Dark Intentions
by MidKnightWriter
Summary: COMPLETE: A mysterious man and his colleagues attempt to kidnap Zack and Cody. But why and how are these characters related? What are their motives?
1. Caught, Again

**For all new readers! I've noticed that a lot of people come to this first page and stop. Please don't stop! This chapter isn't exactly the greatest but I hold true to what I say at the end! And please don't ruin it for yourself by skipping to the latest chapter to see what's going on. It's very likely that you'll come across a big reveal that you'll regret reading. **

**Thanks!**

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**Ok, this is the first chapter in this story. I've never written one of these before, but I'm confident it will work out just fine because I do have it planned all the way through to the end.**

**I do not own the Suite Life or any of its characters.**

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**Chapter 1:**

"Zack! What are you doing?! You can't keep doing that!" mother-like twin brother, Cody, scolded. Zack didn't need any more of those. The one he was already stuck with was more than enough trouble. "What?" Zack asked, playing stupid and trying not to break his rare-to-find concentration.

"Note cards! You're cheating again! Haven't you learned yet?" Cody spazzed.

"Cody, seriously, shut the hell up."

"What are you going to do in high school next year? Where you can't cheat? Where they actually watch you, unlike the teachers here," Cody said, rolling his eyes. He thought it was ridiculous that kids got away with this, in his mind, criminal act of injustice.

"Once again, shut up. And you don't have to worry about–"

"Zackary Martin!" Ms. Turner shrieked. "What makes you think what have to say is more important than what I'm teaching?"

"What I'm saying might actually be remotely interesting," Zack shot back.

The class cracked up while Ms. Turner just gave a blank stare, as usual. "Is that your vocabulary book on your desk? Last time I checked, I teach a math class," the teacher remarked, holding up her math textbook.

"Well, last time _I _checked, you don't teach math. You _attempt _to teach it," Zack muttered. Again, the class burst into laughter. Zack had no problem making fun of this new teacher. She didn't know how to yell or get angry. All she did was come up with a lame comeback or make weird faces, which ended up making the whole situation even more hilarious.

Ms. Turner, who was definitely familiar with Zack's rude and undermining remarks, did her best to ignore the class. Trying to croak up a response to his shot at her, she spotted the note card Zack was working on, sitting adjacent to a small, open bright orange vocabulary book. Zack swiftly closed the book and slid it in his bookbag when he saw her eying him out, trying not to draw any more attention.

Ms. Turner thought for a moment, gave Zack a mean look, and then, with a sick smile on her face, she announced, "Class, start your homework. I'll be right back."

"I wonder what she's doing. Did you see the way she looked at you?" Cody observed. "Can't be good."

"I dunno," Zack mumbled in reply, ignoring the fact that he knew exactly what she was doing. Zack assumed she was going to walk down the hall, to Mrs. Thomas' English classroom, and ask if she was administering a test during that day. Zack's pulse began to race. With his forehead sweating profoundly, he wondered what his mother, Carey, would do if she found out about this. Last time he was caught cheating, she grounded him for a month. Zack could hardly imagine what course of action she was going to take this time around. Not to mention all the drama that has been taking place in the Martin family over the past few weeks…

"How do you think the situation with mom and dad will play out?" Zack asked, just trying to make small talk and only half interested in Cody's opinion.

"Well, they are divorced, and sometimes issues with the–"

Before he could finish, Ms. Turner butted in. "Zack, honey, could you please join me in the hall? Bring your vocabulary book too, with the note card."

"Uh oh," Zack thought. "I'm busted now."

As he waltzed out of the room, trying to look confident, all his classmates jeered and laughed; this is the third time he's been caught cheating on a test – in a few different ways, in a few different classes.

Zack's face quickly straightened up when he saw Mrs. Thomas' ancient, mean, ugly face glaring up at him. "Hand me that book, Zackary."

Zack's heart went into freefall mode as she flipped through the book, finally finding the note card. She looked up at him, and with the most serious face he's seen on her so far this year, she said, "This has happened twice before. The first time I just took the card from you during the test, just gave you a simple look. I guess I didn't get my point across. The second time, during the following vocab test, you used your book to cheat. I wrote a note home to your mother saying that I would have to take further action than just communicating with her if anything of the sort happened again. You may remember that she wrote a sincere apology back, telling me that she had a very long talk with you about your punishment and what will happen if you ever do it again. Well, what do ya know? You did it again. And the worst part is that you seem to be less intelligent about how you do it each time around."

Zack just nodded, recalling the all-night shouting contest between him and his mother last month.

"What do you suggest I do this time?" she asked, acting like she would give him another chance.

Zack just shrugged his shoulders while Ms. Turner chuckled.

Following a ten second awkward silence, Mrs. Thomas spoke up again. "Ok, well if you can't come up with something, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to do something about it myself. Go and get your books, we're going downstairs."

"I don't know what his problem is," Ms. Turner whispered to her colleague, loud enough for Zack to hear. "His brother's just so much better than him in, well, everything." Mrs. Thomas nodded her head in agreement. Zack furiously turned around while walking, made eye contact with his math teacher, and cursed her out under his breath.

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**Besides a few unanswered questions, this chapter is not very dramatic like the rest of the story will be (promise), but it was meant to be an opening scene kind of thing. I already have the second chapter done, and working on the third, so yes, this will be going somewhere and will also be very suspenseful. **

**Even though you don't have much to comment on, please review!!! Every review is great!**


	2. CodeRed Emergency

**So this one took a little longer to write, and they all will as the story progresses.**

**A lot more happens in this chapter. If anyone gets confused, just leave a review with your question and I'll reply.**

**I do not own the Suite Life or its characters.**

**Chapter 2**

Mrs. Thomas walked swiftly down the hall in route to the principal's office, while Zack turtled behind. Mrs. Thomas was sick of Zack's daily shenanigans. Not only did he goof off in her class, but he also thought he could take advantage of her good nature. Mrs. Thomas did not like when people tried to take advantage of her.

"Although I doubt you'll care because you obviously have no qualms for anything you do wrong," Mrs. Thomas blurted, acting like a smart-ass. "We are going down to see Principal Morris about our third predicament in only two months of school. Zack, I'm not the only teacher who's sick and tired of your attitudes. We just can't deal with you anymore. It's too much, and maybe a suspension or something more serious than us scolding you, a detention, or a note home to your mom is the only thing that will do the job. You're driving us crazy, and we just can't deal with it anymore."

Zack let out a little giggle while Mrs. Thomas turned and shook her head slowly, thinking of how ridiculous this kid is. Zack loved pissing people off.

"Whatever Zack. All I know is that I'm not the person who's going to have to deal with administration." She paused, waiting for Zack to answer. When no reply came, she added, "Do you have any idea what the consequences for an act such as cheating on a test are?"

"I don't wanna even begin to guess," Zack said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, let me enlighten you, even though I feel like we have had this conversation before," Mrs. Thomas uttered. They stopped outside the main office. The old, mean lady looked Zack in the eyes saying, "If the teacher decides to report you, an offense such as cheating will earn you three detentions. Recall that 5 detentions in a quarter gets you a suspension. Ten detentions––expulsion. We're almost halfway through the second quarter and I have given you one detention for throwing a seventh grader in a locker, and another for simply messing around in class. I also know for a fact you have been in trouble with other teachers."

Zack looked up at the clock while she was lecturing, again, half listening. _"Uhhh, only 9:17. It's Friday, almost the end of the week…can't wait till this day's over…"_ Zack thought. Then he decided to think about it a little bit more. No matter how much he loved to screw around in school, he finally came to realize he just couldn't keep this act up and not expect there to be serious consequences. Zack's lucky he's gotten away with all the stuff he's done so far.

Mrs. Thomas noticed his concern, so she put him in the hot seat, acting as though she would actually let him slide. "So, right now, tell me why I shouldn't march you into that office and tell the principal what you've been doing."

Zack was shocked. Zack was shocked he was shocked. He never really thought about the consequences of his actions. The boy had nothing to offer. She then opened the door to the office, letting Zack walk in first. The principal of Pattison Middle School, Mr. Morris, stepped away from the copier and approached the two. Mrs. Thomas reported the happenings to the principal. "I'll take it from here," he replied. "You may go."

Mr. Morris and Zack stood there, waiting for a hesitant Mrs. Thomas to leave. Something then caught Zack's attention. Outside, there was a man, someone he had seen many times before. He couldn't quite place the face…

When she was finally out of sight, big Principal Morris turned to Zack and interrupted his chain of thought, saying, "Follow me."

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"Did you know fungi can reproduce both sexually and asexually?" Cody asked his friend, Bob, excitedly.

"No, but thanks," Bob said emotionlessly, rolling his eyes.

Zack walked slowly into the room, dragging his feet. He looked upset about something. "What's the matter?" Cody asked worriedly. "Are they gonna do anything to you this time?

"Why are you so much better than me?"

"Huh? In what?" Cody asked, confused.

"Everything. I'm sick and tired of everyone saying how much smarter you are. How you're so much better behaved. How you are the twin who will get somewhere in life, while I'm the one who'll be living on the street."

"Zack, who's saying that? You are better than me in many things. Video games…better sense of humor…you're more popular…" Cody said, struggling to think of areas Zack actually in which Zack actually has talent.

"No, Cody. I didn't ask you that for a heartwarming list of crap that doesn't even matter. When it comes right down to it, all that stuff is…pointless. Video games aren't going to get me into college. My sense of humor or popularity isn't going to get me a good job in the real world."

"Zack!!" Mrs. Thomas shrieked.

Zack picked up his books and began walking fiercely out the room. "Where are you going?" Cody asked sadly.

"Where do you think, idiot? Zack said harshly, still walking until he saw Cody's gloomy face out of the corner of his eye. He hesitated for a moment, until hearing Mrs. Thomas' whiny voice call for him again. Zack just continued on his path out of the math room.

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"So, Zack, how's life?" Principal Morris asked as he sat down at his desk.

Zack stared at him. He didn't seem to be all that mad…

"Uhm, not good," Zack finally croaked up.

"Really? What's wrong?"

"Well, besides the fact that I just made another huge mistake that's going to cost me big time, there's trouble at home, too. With the parents.

Principal Morris sat patiently, waiting to see if Zack was going to expand on that. When nothing came, he asked gently, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zack ruminated whether or not he wanted to share this information with someone he had only had to talk to when he was in trouble.

"Ok," Zack said, still pondering the extent of which he should share. "My dad, who left us when Cody and I were really little, came back unexpectedly about two weeks ago. He said he just wanted to see us, but that's not what we're––"

Mrs. Friendly, the secretary of the school, interrupted over the loudspeaker. _"Please pardon the interruption, but Mr. Favinger, if you could please come to the office immediately. Thank you."_

Principal Morris' face lit up. That was the code for a code-red lockdown emergency.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carey Martin came to a rude awakening on this Friday morning. She had the day off, but she must've forgotten to turn off her alarm clock. Without looking, Carey slammed the snooze button, giving her five more minutes. Hearing the ringing in her head again, she flipped over, saw that it already 9:15 a.m., and decided just to get up. Walking slowly to warm up the shower, the mother of twins continued to wonder exactly _why _Kurt came back for the first time in years two Saturdays ago. Could it be because he really did want to see the boys and be with them a little more while they grow up? Or did he in fact have dark intentions? As much as she did not want to believe it, the more she contemplated it, the more she thought that his coming back had nothing to do with the boys.

Carey stumbled out of the shower, got dressed, made her coffee and, sipping her morning treat slowly, and turned on the morning news. What she heard next made her cup plummet to the ground, splattering her steamy drink all over the sofa.

"_Yes, Tom, thank you very much. I am getting news in that Pattison Middle School went into an emergency lockdown situation approximately 15 minutes ago. There are reports of apparent gunshots, and also reports that some students or staff may be seriously injured. We'll be sure to keep you updated on this most severe developing story."_

**Wow, does anyone else love cliffhangers?!**

**Review please! I really want to hear all feedback!**


	3. The Beginning of the End

**This one was fun to write! I wasn't sure about it when I was done it, but then I read through and it didn't turn out as bad as I thought. :)**

**I do not own The Suite Life or any of its characters.**

**Chapter 3**

Cody frowned as Zack walked away from his desk. His brother almost turned back, making him think that he might apologize for his mean words. Then Mrs. Thomas' cranky voice grabbed Zack's attention, screeching his name.

Bob turned around and asked Cody what happened, acting as though he wasn't listening the entire time.

"Zack has this weird idea in his head. He thinks that he's not good at anything, but I know he is. He said the stuff he's good at, like popularity, doesn't actually matter. It's just that he's not really that stupid; he just lacks common sense," Cody said with a smile on his face as he watched Ms. Turner return. "If he would put in the time to study, he would do just fine."

Moments passed as Bob struggled with a comforting reply, but finally came up with something when the teacher started talking.

"Ok class, sorry about that. There was just another problem from our "star student" that needed attention," Ms. Turner said sarcastically. "So we were discussing factoring…"

"I never really knew he felt that way," Bob finally answered, continuing the conversation while Ms. Turner was instructing. Cody nodded; he always knew it in a sense.

Bob shot a rubber band across the room, whacking Ms. Turner in the back of the head. Just as she turned around to her finger at him, Mrs. Friendly's deep voice bellowed over the loudspeaker: _"Please pardon the interruption, but Mr. Favinger, if you could please come to the office immediately. Thank you."_

They all knew what that meant; someone was in the building. This was more serious than a code-blue, and no one was alerted of a drill taking place, so the class went to the back of the room and crunched down quietly. Cody suddenly remembered Zack and wondered where he was. He got a sick feeling in his stomach…

Seconds later, there was a banging on the door. The banging gradually grew into a loud thumping, as Ms. Turner listened and watched fearfully. And then she remembered: she had forgotten to lock the door! At seemingly the same moment as this thought raced through her brain, the door knob slowly began to turn. Opening the door, a man dressed in black wearing a mask took one look at Ms. Turner, lifted up his gun, and blew her head off. The kids jumped, shocked at what had just happened right before their very eyes. A few started crying as the murderer peered around the room.

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Principal Morris quickly got to his feet, commanding Zack to hide in the closet. Thinking of how much of a nervous wreck Cody must be at this point, Zack walked over to the closet and knelt down with a grin on his face. He loved drills that took time out of the day.

Mr. Morris shot Zack a mean look when he saw he was smiling.

"What's wrong with you, boy?"

"Nothing, I just think drills are fun," Zack replied casually.

"I am the principal of the school. I would know if there was a drill. This is NOT a drill."

Zack thought for a moment and then realized that he _was_ talking to the leader of the school…the one who _would_ plan a drill…

Zack's face grew more serious as Principal Morris threw the door shut.

"Wait, where are you going?" Zack called through the closet. His response was a slamming the door leading into the office.

_Boom! _A loud gunshot came from above. Zack looked up and remembered that Ms. Turner's room was right on top of the office he was in.

"_Cody! No!!" _Zack thought frantically. "_It can't be. This can't be happening."_

Another gunshot came from the floor above him. And then, silence. Zack sat still for a minute worrying about the safety of Cody and his other friends who were left in the room.

Wondering where the police were, Zack listened to four more gunshots and a few people screaming. He heard the floorboards squeaking, as if someone was walking towards him. More scared than he had ever been in his entire life, Zack squeezed his eyes shut as much as possible, hoping he would he would wake up from this terrible nightmare. The man investigated the room, finally opening the closet door and finding Zack inside. Zack was violently hooded before he could open his eyes to see what was going on. He fidgeted, yelled, and tried to fight, but the masked-man was just too powerful. The kidnapper dragged Zack out of the office and out the side doors of the school. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carey immediately ran over to the corded phone in the kitchen and anxiously wondered who she should call. The first person who came to mind was Kurt, her ex-husband. They agreed that Carey would always contact him in case of an emergency with the boys. But considering what has been happening lately with him, Carey frantically dialed Bob's mother's phone number. It rang twice until she picked up the phone.

"Carey!! What's going on!?! I just turned the news––"

"I know!!! What do we do?!" Carey almost yelled into the phone.

"Ok, let's just calm down for a second here. I'm sure all three of our boys are fine. There are many, many kids in the school. The chances that _our_ kids are affected by this in any way are very slim.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Carey said while running her hand through her hair, trying to calm down.

Carey then heard a gasp from Mrs. Bobby that sent a cold chill down her spine.

"Umm…Carey, are you watching channel 10?"

"Nope, channel 3. Why?"

"Well turn to channel 10…" Mrs. Bobby said nervously.

Carey quickly threw down her corded phone in the kitchen, running over to get the cordless out of what you could hardly call a living room. Pressing the channel up button four times, she finally arrived at channel 10. Her mouth fell open even wider than it did just a few minutes ago.

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Cody sat in shock just after seeing his terrible teacher being executed. He looked up and saw the man in black had his eyes fixed on him.

The criminal pointed at Cody, signaling him to get up. When Cody gave him a confused look, the psycho lifted the gun from his side and pointed it at his head. The boy quickly got to his feet and walked tentatively towards the front of the room. Bob then decided that he wanted to try to play hero when his friend was grabbed roughly by the arm and pulled towards the door.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going with him?"

The mysterious man turned around slowly, lifted and cocked his gun, and pulled the trigger. Cody and all the other eyewitnesses gasped, many started crying.

Cody stood there, frozen, just hoping he would just wake up from this horrible nightmare.

"LET'S GO!!!" the man yelled.

Cody turned around slowly, and, with a ghostly look on his face, he stared up in complete and utter amazement at the man he believed to be dead.

**I think this is a good stopping point for a little longer than the schedule I've been on lately with the updating...sorry…haha.**

**Thanks for all the great reviews! Keep them coming!**


	4. We've Got Company

Chapter 4

**I've been receiving some feedback that some people are getting confused by the dashes. The "------------------" represent a change in the timeline or switching to another character's point of view. They're kind of like flashbacks and flashforwards. There are a lot more of them in this chapter because it's a good storytelling method. If anyone's still confused after this, send me a message or leave a review and I'll reply.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Suite Life or its characters.**

**Chapter 4:**

Jasper Burns awoke to the booming theme music that played during the "resolution" of his all-time favorite film, "Saw".

"Dammit," he said loudly, trying to enjoy what was left of the movie. "Thursday night movie. I missed it."

Flipping through the limited number of channels the local Comfort Inn had to offer, he powered the television off, slammed the remote down, and thought about the difficult mission that would come his way the next day.

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Not even trying to put up a fight after seeing one of his best friends killed right in front of him, Cody just allowed the man to drag him down the steps. The man stopped in front of the main office, watching the show.

"WHERE IS HE?" one of the men said with a gun pointed at Principal Morris' large temple.

"I don't know! He's not here!!"

Cody heard the pistol click from outside. He turned away, not caring to watch what could have potentially occurred next.

"Oh, you don't want to witness this, buddy?" the old friend remarked. Cody shot a disgusted look over to him. The man smacked him and hastily pulled a hood out of his bag, fixing it on Cody.

Then Cody heard a faint ringtone…coming from inside the office. It was the "Saw" theme song tone. "_How fitting,_" Cody thought disgustedly.

"Oh ok boss. You got it," Cody heard the man inside the office on the phone say loudly.

_Boom! _Another gunshot rattled Cody's head. Shivering and still not looking up, he heard the squeaky office door open and a man approached, saying, "Alright Tom, he already got the other one, we're done here."

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Carey's eyes widened as she watched the footage being shown on the screen. The chopper zoomed in on the ambulances and police that, according to the telecast, had "finally arrived".

"I…I…I gotta go," she stuttered to Mrs. Bobby, hanging up the phone. She had absolutely no idea what to do next. With her eyes watering up, she ran away from the TV looking for her cell phone to see if anyone else had tried to contact her. Nothing. Phone in hand, she grabbed her purse and sprinted out the door and to the elevator. The car was conveniently parked at ground level, so she had to wait a bit for it to arrive at the 23rd floor. The doors opened a minute later as she stepped in and took the seemingly longest and most fearful elevator ride in her life.

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Jasper Burns picked up speed after the stop sign that was stationed outside the parking garage at the mall on this lovely Thursday evening. Nervous about seeing his boss face-to-face for the first time they agreed via email that they would meet on the third floor of the parking garage walking distance from the mall. Jasper made his way up to the second floor, where he was halted by his mysterious superior.

"Hello Jasper."

"Hello…?"

"Don't worry about the name," he replied casually. "Now is everything still on for tomorrow? Did you plan it all out?"

"Yes, sir. I think I got all the tools to be able to pull––"

"You _think _or you _know_?" the boss said, getting angry.

"Oh I'm sorry sir. I _do _have everything ready to go. I am going to get there early, take out the phone lines, the internet…basically cutting the school off of all communication with the outside world. I even found the thing you told me to get that blocks all cell phone signals within the vicinity," Jasper said with a smirk on his face. "The only problem is…almost every store in the state of Massachusetts was sold out. I had to go all the way across the state to find this one. It only works for a half hour tops…"

The boss rolled his eyes. "Ok, I guess that will have to do. Now get the hell out of here."

"Sure, boss. See you tomorrow!"

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Carey frantically stepped out of the elevator and ran over to the candy counter, pushing a customer aside.

"Maddie! Did you hear what's happening?"

"Hey Carey. No, what's the matter?" the candy counter girl said easily to the over-protective mother of twins.

"The boys! Their school! They went in lockdown! There are people hurt! Killed!" Carey freaked.

"Now, now let's just calm down here for a second. I'm sure the boys and their friends are just fine."

"Where's Moesby?" Carey asked.

"I don't know, but he told me yesterday that he needed to take a personal day."

"Personal day! Ugh! He's the manager of this hotel! Why is he taking personal days!?"

Carey's phone started vibrating just as she was about start spazzing out to Maddie even more. Blocked number.

"Carey? What's happening? Are Zack and Cody alright?"

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Thomas Shadow waited at the Starbucks in downtown Boston for his supervisor to arrive. He didn't like that he always had to meet his boss face-to-face, but he also knew he did not like to communicate on the phone.

"Hey James!"

His boss grinned as he walked through the doorway, happy to hear that Tom had remembered his alias.

"How you doin' old friend?"

"I'm fine, how 'bout yourself?" Tom said, pushing the French vanilla coffee over to him.

"Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'm just excited for tomorrow."

"Yup, so am I." Tom replied.

"So I've laid out our plan. I met with someone earlier tonight to close all the phone lines and everything so the school has a more difficult time getting a hold of the police. You two are going to go in to get the kids while I supervise and make sure everything goes according to plan. I'll detail you more in an email."

"Ok, sounds good," Tom replied.

"Looks like we're done here. Thanks for coming out and doing this on such short notice, I appreciate it," he said seemingly sincerely as he rose from the table.

"Anything for you boss."

"Listen Tom, I'd really like to thank you again for taking the blame, going to jail for almost two years, and never mentioning anything about what really took place. That was very good of you, even though that is expected from a client," he said. He just had to stick that last part in there.

"As you said, that is my number one duty. I always have to protect you, James. I'll see you tomorrow."

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Jasper and Tom trotted out the front doors of the school, grasping Cody by the arms. Cody was in a daze; he couldn't take all of this, he couldn't figure out what was going on. The van pulled around to pick them up. The two walked around to the rear of the car, pulled open the door, threw Cody inside and climbed in after. Jasper shifted to the other side, where Zack was sitting uneasily. In unison, they pulled the hoods off of the boys. After Zack and Cody's long, perplexing staredown, Zack swiftly turned his head and focused on Tom, the man he spotted outside earlier. Still not able to come up with where he recognized this guy from, he asked, "What is this? What's happening?"

Tom spoke up and Zack finally placed the face and voice. Astounded, Zack looked at Cody and who was just staring blankly out the window.

"Go ahead, boss, we're outta here," Tom said, ignoring Zack.

Zack twisted his neck, trying to see who he was addressing as the car began to accelerate.

"No, no, no. Don't try; and if you haven't noticed, kid, there's a medal wall in between him and us, Jasper remarked rudely, pulling Zack's body back.

The obnoxiously loud police car sirens finally sounded from the back end of the mini-van. Cody breathed a sigh of relief as he also heard the sirens coming from the front of the van.

"We've got company!" Tom shouted. "Get out of here! There's no way in hell I'm going to jail again! GO!!"

"THIS IS THE POLICE. STOP WHERE YOU ARE AND PUT YOUR HANDS OUT THE WINDOW."

The driver just sped up, ignoring the law enforcement. Everyone in the backseat braced for impact as they were going well over the low parking lot speed limit. All of a sudden, the boss slammed his foot down on the break and collided with a motionless, bulky police car. The van bounced off the SUV, flied into a nearby tree, and tumbled over on its side.

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**Review please! I want to know what people think!**


	5. The Aftermath

Chapter 5

**I made a mistake in Chapter 4 with the names. When Jasper was meeting the boss in the parking garage, I used Tom's name twice instead of Jasper. It didn't mean anything, I just made a mistake. It's fixed now.**

**Chapter 5:**

"Carey? Hello? Answer me!"

"Kurt? Um…the boy's school got broken into?"

"Oh no," Kurt sighed. "Ok, should I come up? Do you know if they're safe?"

"No, I don't know anything," Carey retorted, trying to end this rather awkward conversation. "And I sure do hope they're ok. It's just that, as you damn well know, something like this has happened before."

"Carey, please stop. I had nothing to do with that."

Kurt's ex-wife rolled her eyes and pulled the phone away from her face, ready to hang up. "Shut up Kurt," she muttered.

Then he yelled, "YOU KNOW THAT I––"

Carey had heard enough. Aggravated, she whacked her flip-phone shut and wondered why every conversation with that man always has to turn in to an argument.

She looked up at Maddie and watched her in the middle of an eye-roll. "That guy is a selfish, arrogant person, Carey. You saw that before you even moved here. Why can't he just admit that he was wrong? He didn't come back for the boys. That was just a bunch of crap he was feeding you."

"I know that," Carey replied, calming down a bit. "I don't know if I've already told you this, but a couple days after he first showed up, he took Zack and Cody out to "the movies" without me knowing. I was on the phone for almost an hour looking for some information. Nothing. The boys finally made their way home after midnight, and wow, I was livid. They said that he just dropped them off outside the lobby and that the movie was good. They said it like tensely, like they were hiding something. But I wasn't sure, so I didn't look too far into it until a few days ago. I started wondering, remembering how apprehensive they were to talk about that night. I decided to get over my strong disliking of Kurt for a little while and call to see if he would tell me anything. I called throughout the day on Tuesday and he just ignored it every time. I know he did."

Maddie just nodded uncomfortably, at a loss for words.

"Listen Maddie, I know all this sounds unbelievably weird, crazy, and farfetched. You're probably thinking that I'm just worrying too much. It's just that I'm so worried all of a sudden…I have a bad feeling about all of this for some reason…" she said, starting to tear up.

"No, no. You're not overreacting. You're just worrying about your children, which is fine. It's not unusual," Maddie replied convincingly, rolling her eyes again while hugging Carey.

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Cody peered through his half-closed eyelid. He reached to his left, releasing his seatbelt, and then fell a short distance to the side of the interior of the van.

"_Cody! Cody!" _someone yelled.

He then heard screams and commands from then the police officers and saw a familiar person take a quick look at him, and then run away as the world went black to him again.

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Tom stared at his boss as he walked out of Starbucks. He stood up, balancing his steamy coffee and his boss' hot drink. His Blackberry started vibrating as she stepped away from the table, in route to the trash can. He tried tucking the drink in his right hand in his left arm but couldn't make the transfer. Both cups plummeted to the ground. Blackberry in hand, he took one look at the mess and walked out the door, leaving ten different people staring at him blankly. His friend Jasper had sent him a text message telling him to check his email. Tom opened his inbox and read the message James sent to them both:

_Tom and Jasper: _

_I have devised a plan that should work. We'll meet tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. SHARP for breakfast and to discuss final plans. From there, we will head over to the school in our separate cars._

_Both of you are going to head in at the same time, while I stay in the car to supervise. I will be watching from all angles, with mirrors. In the rare event of something going wrong, I will radio you giving specific instructions on what our next moves would be. Tom, you may or may not already know this, but Jasper, a guy I've hired to help with this job, has provided us with a device that will block all signals that come from a phone. He has confirmed that the device will not interfere with the radio's signal. You'd better be right about that._

_I have obtained a rather large SUV that we will board when the mission has been completed. It'll be parked outside the front entrance. There will also be backup in the event of an emergency or abortion of the mission._

_So it's as simple as that. And if anyone gets in your way besides the boys, well…I'm sure you guys can figure it out._

_James_

_PS – There will be another person at the school tomorrow assisting us. But don't worry; he will just be a lowly casualty when we're done with his services_

_And I hope you two are ready to kill._

Tom put his phone back in his pocket, not surprised at what he had just read. The phone began to shake again just a few seconds after. He pulled it out again and glanced at the caller I.D., which read 'Jasper Burns'.

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Zack flopped out of his seat and onto the side of the van. His first instinct was to go over to see if Cody was ok, but as soon as he tried to stand up, he was hit forcefully with a seat.

"_Go! Go! Get outta there!" _Zack heard faintly.

"Cody! Cody! Help me up!" he screamed with sharp pains shooting through his legs. He waited a few seconds…no response. Zack started to panic. He struggled with the seat that he felt was crushing his left leg a bit more until he finally got leverage, pulling himself up with the armrest. He gained the strength to throw the seat lying on top of him to the side and stood up, opening the door first and viewing the mess he had gotten into. Then the bullets started flying. He stopped looking around and dropped to his knees, but not fast enough. A bullet had opened a hole in his arm. Zack felt more pains in his legs, lost consciousness and crashed to the ground violently.

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Tom pressed the green button and put the phone to his ear.

"Tom, did you see the email?"

"Yes Jasper, I read the email…"

"And what do you think?"

"What do I think about what?"

"Do you think he has any idea…?" Jasper asked apprehensively.

"Well we'd better hope he doesn't have any idea. We're both dead if he finds out."

"He said he has backup. What does that mean?"

"He is bringing backup. That's what it means you idiot," Tom replied impatiently.

"You don't think it has anything to do with us?"

"Christ Jasper, just shut up about it! No, I do not think it has anything to do with us whatsoever. All I know is that he always covers his ass on all cylinders. We'll kill him when he lets his guard down, whether that's tomorrow or not."

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Tom ducked for cover as the van collided with the police SUV. One of the seats in the vehicle came loose and soared over a distance of a few feet, landing on Tom. He roughly threw it off of his body and got up. Glaring down at Cody for a moment as he crawled past, the middle-aged man slid open the door and climbed out side of the car, which was facing towards the sky.

"_Come on! Go! Go! Get outta there_!" he yelled toward the car at Jasper while he watched the cops running towards them.

The former policeman whipped out his two pistols and pulled some James Bond moves on the cops. There were bullets flying from every direction, as "James" had decided to include himself in the fun. One of the police officers spotted someone fidgeting around inside of the van. He lined himself up precisely with the man who looked as if he was loading a gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet skimmed the man's shirt and disappeared behind him.

Tom and his boss put on their best Sydney Bristow act as they dodged bullets and fired them, killing several officers. Jasper finally emerged from the overturned van, shooting the last policeman. The three ran off into the woods as the ambulances pulled up next to the crash scene in an effort to save Zack and Cody.

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Review please!


	6. The Shape of Things to Come

Chapter 6

**Please note that this story is meant to make you think. It's not that it doesn't make sense (it does), I am just trying to make people think about the timing factor, the motives, and possible outcomes and solutions to storylines.**

**Also, if you're new, don't start here. . I can guarantee you'll be totally lost. If you want to grasp it as much as possible, go back and start from the beginning.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Suite Life or and of its characters.**

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**Chapter 6:**

"MEDIC! WE NEED A METIC OVER HERE!" Officer Abrams screamed at the top of his lungs as he and his partner ran over to Zack Martin, the victim of a gunshot to the arm. Zack was blacked out, face down on the ground.

"Zack! Zack!" Cody yelled, getting to his feet and limping over to his brother. Out of energy, he fell down adjacent to Zack's legs.

An ambulance suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It pulled up next to the three males. Two rather small and skinny men jumped out and walked over to see what damage had been done. "Two stretchers, go get them," one of the medics ordered to the other.

Officer Abrams reached into his pocket and took out his radio.

"What do you think you're doing?" the remaining medic questioned Officer Abrams.

"I'm just calling for backup. That's protocol." The police officers looked at him suspiciously, as these two guys weren't even wearing any type of uniform.

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary," he said mysteriously. The man swiftly grabbed his gun from his back pocket and shot Officer Abrams square in the heart. Before the other officer had a chance to react, he was also shot and killed by the person who was getting the stretchers.

The man came back with the stretchers and strapped Zack on one of them, Cody on the next one while the other "medic" grabbed his phone and rapidly dialed a series of numbers.

"Yes, it was successful, we have them. The others are dead. We'll be right there to pick you up," one of the boss' clients said into the phone.

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"Sorry Maddie, you probably didn't care to hear that," Carey said, pulling away from Maddie's awkward loosely wrapped arms.

"Carey, no, it's fine. I really feel for you…"

"Sorry Maddie, but I know you're just trying to be nice. Now I don't really know what to do about this. Should I go to the police, or…?"

"Shouldn't you try to contact other parents? I don't think everyone going to the police at once will help anything; it'll just cause even more chaos," Maddie suggested sternly.

"I'm really lost Maddie, I just don't know what to do," Carey said, starting to sob again.

"You should just go upstairs and relax. I'm sure you'll be notified if any new information develops."

"Okay," Carey said hesitantly to the 16 year old girl. "Thanks again for listening."

"Anytime, Carey."

Carey backed away from the candy counter, up the three lobby steps, and parked herself in front of the Tipton elevator. The door opened slowly as she stepped in.

The elevator creeped gradually up the side of the Tipton as Carey thought deeply. "_Screw her_," was the conclusion she finally arrived at.

Carey flipped open her phone again and dialed 911.

"_This is 911, how may I help you?_"

"I don't think I should be contacting you about this, but I'm clueless for as to what I should do next. My two sons' school just went into lockdown and I saw on the news that there were deaths. I was wondering if you could provide me with any type of further information," Carey said, trying to calm her frantically tapping foot.

"_Yes, sure. And it's fine that you called; we've had several other parents do the same in the past few minutes. Let me look into that for you. What are your boys' names?_"

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Tom sat down for breakfast at the local Waffle House on this Friday morning and observed Jasper nervously creep through the entrance. Tom watched as Jasper pulled his chair out, looking over his shoulder just waiting for something to go wrong.

"Why are we doing this?" Jasper asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean? Why we are here today in the first place or why we are plotting against James?"

"Oh yeah, and who's James?" the noob inquired.

"He is the boss, I believe you've already met with him. James is his alias."

"Why is he using an alias?" Jasper wondered.

"I don't know, all he tells me is that he doesn't want his name getting around."

"Um, okay, well then both questions."

"With your help, I want to get back at James for all that he's put me through. I went to jail in his place for TWO years!" He paused.

"What happened?" asked Jasper.

Tom looked at his watch. "He should be coming in any minute now, but to make a long story short, basically everything that will happen today…taking the boys, trying to get to their mother…happened before. We failed. He convinced me to stay at the hotel and take the heat when things went wrong, and I did. I don't know why, but I did it. For him. No visits, no phone calls when I was in jail, no anything until I finally got out of there. Over two years later, I want some revenge. And I'll get it, even if it kills me.

Jasper spotted James walking swiftly towards the restaurant in his leather jacket. No time for a response to what happened between Tom and James, he popped the unanswered question that's been bugging him ever since he got the first phone call about this mission from Tom.

"Putting the issue with James aside, why the hell are we here, getting involved with this at all? What does James want?"

"Let's just say that this guy has issues the kids' mother, Carey. Some of which I and other people are aware of, others which they keep tightly concealed between themselves."

"Screw breakfast, we gotta go," James said loudly as he walked in, waving his arms wildly.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Tom asked seriously.

"I need this extra time to assemble a totally different alternative for later if this doesn't work, assuming we don't get taken into custody."

"But we're not ready yet! We don't know what to do! We don't have the complete instructions!" Jasper piped up frantically.

"But we have _enough_, Jasper," Tom said restlessly, clenching his teeth.

"I know that Jasper, but we'll just have deal with the consequences if they come up. Listen, I don't have time for this. I need to go. You're free to go do whatever you want until 9:00. And I mean it, be at the school no later than 9:00."

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"Carey! Why are you running?" Maddie asked suspiciously.

"I was just told to come down to the police station!" Carey yelled.

"The police station?! Is it about today? Are Zack and Cody in danger?" Maddie asked, shocked at what she's witnessing.

"They wouldn't tell me anything!" a furious, worried, and frightened Carey shouted back. She slammed her way through the Tipton revolving door, sprinted to her car, and floored it out of the parking lot.

The near 4 mile trip to the hospital took no less than 3 minutes. Zack and Cody's mother violently pushed pedestrians aside as she ran into the police station.

"Hi, my name is Carey Martin," she said to the attendant at the front desk. "I called in to 911 and they told me to come down to the station. It's about my boys…something happened at their school about an hour ago. They wouldn't tell me anything over the phone."

"We have a Miss Martin here," the overweight African-American man at the front desk muttered lazily as he span around in his chair.

"Send her back," a voice echoed.

Carey nearly jogged through the door and into the captain's office.

"Miss Martin…"

"It's Carey," the mother rudely interrupted.

"Carey, you're going to want to sit down for this."

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The medic-posers drove up next to James, Tom, and Jasper. The boss pulled open the driver's door before the truck came to a complete halt.

"Dave! Is he okay?" the orchestrator of this entire mission yelled. "We CANNOT let him die!"

"I don't know sir. Drew is in the back looking at him…"

The boss heard yelling from inside of the ambulance. He ran over and opened the door. There, he saw an unconscious Cody, a knocked out Zack with a bullet hole in his bright red, swollen arm, and his idiot employee, trying to clean up the mess.

"What the hell is this?" the boss asked in frustrated and pissed off tone as he stepped into the truck.

"I can't stop it! The blood just keeps flowing and the bullet's really stuck in there good! I don't know what to do! I've never had to deal with a bullet wound before!" Drew replied frantically.

"WHAT? I thought you had experience!" James removed his pistol from his waste-line, holding it in a way that made it impossible for Drew to spot it.

"Well, actually, I was just in this for the money," Drew said confidently, holding his guard.

James grunted and shot the liar pointblank in the neck.

Blood squirting everywhere, he hopped back out and took a quick poll, now facing the three remaining men.

"Do ANY of you lifeless, worthless pieces of crap know how to fix a bullet wound?"

"In what sense?" Jasper asked seriously.

"In the sense of removing the bullet and stopping the bleeding?" James was only one word away from blowing his head off, too.

Everyone just shook their head.

"I didn't want to do this, trust me, but this moron over here decided to bring out the bullets," the leader said, pointing at Jasper while walking up to Dave. Jasper looked around cluelessly, and decided it would be best to just keep his mouth shut this time. "Well if none of you can do this, I have no choice than to bring him to a hospital. I cannot let him die; that was certainly not on our agenda."

"Wait…aren't we on the run?" Tom remarked. "We can't just bring a kid with a bullet wound into a hospital and expect everything to run smoothly!"

"I'm one step ahead of you, Tom," James shot back with a wink as he sprinted around the car, jumping into the driver's seat hastily.

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**Hint/reminder: There is obviously a flashback in there, but not everyone is at the same time yet with the real-time events; that will happen next chapter.**

**Keep reviewing please and thanks for all the old ones!**


	7. Whatever the Case May Be

**Things are not going well with this. Hits are down drastically and the reviews have even dropped a little. Regardless, the final chapter is almost fully written so I'm not stopping.**

**This is the last chapter before the finale. Sorry about giving no notice. I was going to go into another subplot but decided to skip over it because I didn't think it'd work. Chapter 8 will most likely end up being titled, "The Duel of Fates". I realize that there is another story with that title but I wasn't thinking about it when it came to me. At least I don't think I was…maybe that's how I came up with it though.**

**Anyways, I ran into a few problems in this chapter which made it a lot more complicated to write. Telling the story from basically three different angles gets very confusing sometimes. Also, about the wording… I have to word things carefully to not actually give away the identity of the boss too easily, or too early…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Suite Life or its characters.**

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**Chapter 7:**

Thomas Shadow jumped in the back of the ambulance, gazing down at Zack. The boy had regained consciousness, but was still in dire pain. His partner, Jasper Burns, just made it in before James sped away from the McDonald's about a half mile away from Pattison Middle School.

"What exactly do you plan on doing?" Tom loudly asked the reckless driver.

"We are just going to simply drop the boy off at the hospital," he answered. "Leave him outside; someone will find him."

Tom thought for a few seconds before he spoke up while simultaneously trying to keep his balance in the erratically moving truck.

"Just Zack? Not Cody? How far is the hospital?"

"Yes. We have about 15 miles to go. Now stop asking so many questions," James said impatiently through his clenched teeth while trying to handle the wheel.

Tom's phone rang as he considered telling James that, after seeing the damage to Zack, he would most likely be able to fix the boy.

"Hello?"

"Give the phone to James; he's not answering," a voice ordered. Tom shoved the phone in his boss' face.

"What is it???" James yelled in a frustrated tone, wondering out loud before he got to speak to the person on the phone.

Tom turned to Jasper, whispering, "I can fix this. I can fix him. I've repaired a bullet wound before."

"Well why are you discussing it with me? Do it!" Jasper replied frantically.

"Think about it. This guy is completely crazy. He told me a few days ago that his motive for doing this whole entire plan is to get back at Carey Martin for 'disrespecting' him. Now, I don't know exactly what happened and what he means by that, but is it really enough to cause deaths?"

"Wait…you don't want anyone to die? I don't understand."

"I don't want innocent people to die." He stopped and realized he was contradicting his actions. He killed three innocent people earlier in the morning. Tom instantly convinced himself that what happened with those three people was an accident, and nothing else. "I truly believe that he'll kill these kids if it comes to that. If he leaves Zack outside the hospital, what do you think will happen? What do you think will happen to Cody? Regardless of what he says, I think that a quarter of him cares about them and three quarters doesn't give a crap."

"_What do you mean she went to the police?!"_ Tom heard James scream from the driver's seat.

"Go for it," Jasper suggested. "Just tell him you can do it."

Tom leaned forward and called James' name. He shook him off and continued yelling into the phone. "That woman is insane! Didn't I tell you to keep her under control? Was it really that hard? We cannot have Carey going to the police with this! She's not going to rest until she finds them! At this point, I need her IN the Tipton! I briefed you on what would have happen if we did not succeed here, and guess what! We failed! We failed again! I'm sick of all this! I want to finish it off! Whatever the case may be! I don't care what happens to me! Or anyone else!" He took a breath. "I am going to need you to make a scene. Don't let anyone leave, just create a hold up. I will then take you out of there and get you out of the state. Yes, and the money. Don't worry; I promise. You blew it once, just please come through for me this time."

"James, I really need your attention here," Tom said, now annoyed.

"WHAT?" the boss fired back as he slammed the phone shut. "What is it??"

"No need to go to the hospital. I can take the bullet out," Tom replied nonchalantly. James looked back stupidly.

"Well then why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't really know the extent of the injury…it's only a small wound in his arm."

The ambulance skidded into an empty parking garage. James turned around. "Get to it!"

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"What is it?!" Carey asked anxiously.

"I don't really know how to tell you this, but your two boys were kidnapped after some masked men broke into the school. They drove away in an ambulance." He paused.

"Is that it!? Are they still alive?"

"Well, to be honest, we don't know. We do know that it was brought outside after the shootings inside that killed a few teachers and even some children. Several officers are down, critically wounded, if not dead."

Carey was getting impatient. "I don't care about the officers or other kids or teachers," she shot back coldly. Rising up from her chair, she said, "I want you to find them and that damn ambulance RIGHT NOW. NO EXCUSES."

"Okay, okay, Ms. Martin, please calm down. We are using all possible resources…"

"Why can't you just check the news? They had a camera right over the school! I saw the headlines!"

"Those helicopters had to get off site when the gunshots started flying. It's simple protocol. We didn't need helicopters exploding in mid-air as a result of it."

Captain Linus' phone rang, startling Carey, who had her head buried in her arms, just about ready to implode. She stared at the captain as he nodded and approved of what the person on the other line was saying. "Ms. Martin, good news. Traffic surveillance picked up on the ambulance that was hijacked and stolen. That ambulance is the one they drove away in.

Carey lifted her head. "How can you be so sure?"

"Well because this one is speeding 85 mph down the highway. They are approximately a mile out from the Tipton and heading towards it. Don't you live there?"

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A gleaming black Mercedes Benz pulled into the parking lot of Pattison Middle School. Tom stepped out and took a look around. It was a glamorous sunny morning on this second Friday of November. Soon, it would most likely turn into a gloomy, dark fall morning if the plan was executed efficiently.

Tom had convinced himself he was an innocent man. After all, in his mind, he didn't do anything wrong just over two years ago when his superior convinced him to help kidnap the kids when they were getting off of the elevator, in route to their suite. He didn't even fully realize what he was doing there. James was the masked man who actually did the capturing, although Tom was the one who was eventually caught. All the evidence led to the man who thought he was innocent, so he couldn't even attempt to talk his way out of it after he was taken in. Tom had a strong suspicion that James was the one who framed him…all the evidence that just showed up out of nowhere could not just have been a coincidence. He _knew _that James had screwed him over and, after two years in jail, he just couldn't move on and forget about it. He convinced himself on one of the dark nights in his dismal prison cell that he had to get him back when he got out of there…he just _had _to.

He looked up and quickly realized that he had wondered far away from his car. Turning around to go back to the area where Jasper was going to meet him, he spotted Zack. Or Cody? He couldn't tell. Zack shot him a confused look. He hoped he didn't remember where he knew Tom from. A cold chill ran down his spine when he thought about what happened before as he watched Jasper pull up in his crappy Ford. "They saw me," a shaky Tom muttered to Jasper.

"So? Does that matter?" Jasper asked while he put his gloves on.

"Well, no…but I used to be family friend. His mom and I were very good friends in high school. That relationship didn't last when she met her ex-husband but we still kept in contact. The boys liked me. When James tricked me into trying to kidnap them, they found out that I was involved. Didn't find out anything about him; just me. They didn't know I went to jail for it. They didn't even know I was involved. To avoid explaining what happened or making up a dumb excuse, Carey just told them I had died."

James suddenly appeared out of the bushes. "Just got back from the Tipton," he said with a grin. He pulled Tom aside. "Although I hope this whole thing doesn't end with a suicide mission, we're good if we don't meet the school mission's objectives."

"Listen buddy, I don't want to die either. I will personally make sure we get the boys and get out of this school quickly. That's it, nothing else," Tom said seriously, keeping in mind he was lying about that last part.

"I sure hope you would do everything in your power to make this easy for me; anything else would be unacceptable. I just hope Maddie has enough guts to keep up her end of the deal. Ultimately, the fate of the entire mission lies in her unreliable hands."

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A frustrated Maddie Fitzpatrick flipped her cell phone shut as she watched a glamorous London Tipton step out of the elevator. _"Someday I'll have half the money she has," _Maddie thought enviously. _"And this is just the first step,"_ she had also convinced herself.

"Hey London!" Maddie called. "Come here!" The spoiled brat turned around and looked around the lobby aimlessly. "Over here!" Maddie said in disgust.

"Oh! Hi Maddie!" London responded stupidly. She began to walk over, but then tripped over a piece of nothing on the floor and tumbled down the three Tipton steps. "Oh no! I broke a heel!" London said sadly. She got to her feet and said with a series look on her face, "Maddie, do you think you could buy me a new pair of $300 high heels?"

Maddie glared at her. "No London, but I'll be glad to sell you my grandmother's old, moldy, and disgusting slippers. No––I'll give them to you. For free."

"You probably can't even afford that!" London laughed. Maddie continued to glare at her. She then made a slow movement with her right arm and swiftly pulled a gun out of the candy counter. London gasped, asking, "Is that a gun?"

"Yes honey, it's a gun. Fully loaded, too. You'd better keep it down or else I'll blow your head off right in front of everyone in this lobby," Maddie muttered quietly. London freaked out.

"GUN! SHE HAS A GUN!! STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!!!" The lobby went into an uproar as Maddie grabbed London before she could get away.

She put the gun to the rich girl's head screaming, "SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! NOW! OR I'LL PUT A BULLET IN YOUR PRECIOUS LONDON TIPTON'S HEAD!"

From across the lobby, Maddie saw a door creep open. Mr. Marion Moseby stuck his small, bald head out the doorway. "What's going––MADDIE? What are you doing!?"

"I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago. I'm sick of this place! Getting treated like dirt, while I'm nice to everyone! Nothing but kind and helpful! And you're hardly paying me any money! I'm finally getting my revenge!"

"Calm down, let's just calm down here…"

"HEY! NO! Get back here!" Maddie yelled at a customer who was trying to make a run for the door. The man slowed down. "If you don't walk back down here, I will seriously kill her!" Mr. Moseby attempted to approach the crazed girl.

"Maddie, just put the gun down. We can work this out," he said gently.

"I'm warning you, go away. Any closer and I'll kill her!"

London shook her head rapidly. "Just listen to her!"

He continued to walk towards them. "Okay, your fault," Maddie muttered. _Boom! _The loud gunshot that set a bullet into London Tipton's skull rattled the eardrums of everyone in the room.

"No! Maddie! What have you done?" Mr. Moseby ran over and knelt down to the dead girl.

"It doesn't matter," Maddie chuckled, "you'll all be dead in a just a matter of minutes anyway."

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**Review please!**


	8. The Duel of Fates

**I said last chapter that I had chapter 8 written. I did, but it was not complete…at all. Instead of inserting words and sentences in, I just restarted because there was just too much to change.**

**So thank you to all the readers, and especially my reviewers. This would have not been as easy if I didn't have those people.**

**Also, thank you to In NYC (my editor for almost all the chapters) for fixing all the stupid typos and mistakes, and of course for dealing with all my crap. **

**Here it is…**

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**Chapter 8 – The Final Chapter**:

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Cody sat up quickly and uneasily. His retinas captured the setting: A dark ambulance full of people shouting.

"I'm trying! Rushing me won't do any good!" a voice exclaimed to his pushy and evil boss.

"Let's just get it moving a little bit!" James shifted to the driver's seat.

"There's too much blood! I can't see! This isn't exactly the ideal setting for this kind of thing! Dammit! Clamp! Wait…wait…there it is! I got it, tweezers Jasper! Gauze! Give me the gauze! I think got it!"

His head hurt a bit, but other than that and a mild drowsiness, Cody felt fine. He was just confused as to what was happening. "Hey!" someone yelled. "He's up!" Cody fidgeted to the very back of the ambulance, trying to scramble away from the people moving towards him. He let a shriek out just before Jasper put his hand over his mouth. "Shhhh, quiet down," he said pretty creepily. Cody bit his index finger, although it did not cause much damage. Jasper backed off.

"Where am I???" Cody asked frantically. "What did you do with my brother? Oh, hey Tom. Rise from the dead, I see?" Tom just stared as everyone felt the sudden jolt of the ambulance when it pulled out of the parking garage.

"You know that I wouldn't…" he was saying until he heard a weak voice from behind him.

"Hey…what's going on here?" Zack said softly and painfully.

"Zack?!" Cody yelled.

"Cody?"

"Don't worry," James interrupted as he climbed into the back again, "this will all be over soon."

"Dad?!" the boys exclaimed simultaneously in complete and total shock, unsure of what would happen next.

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"I'm going out for this one." Officer Linus thought for a moment. "Do you want to come?"

"Of course! Let's go!"

"This has the potential of being a very dangerous situation; you might want to think about it."

"I am sick of this. I am sick of this day…it's never-ending! I need to know if my boys are okay! I need to see them!" Carey cried.

"Alright," he replied slowly, "fair enough."

They hastily walked out of the office through the doorway, heading towards the officer's police car. He pulled out of the parking space and waited for the other police cars that were also reporting to the Tipton, or at least going to trail this ambulance.

Five police cars sped down the street with their sirens blasting. Office Linus eventually made his way to the front with the strong and forceful encouragement of Carey. When they finally arrived at the Tipton and Carey saw what was just outside the front entrance, she thought she may have been dreaming––or at least having a continuation of this terrible nightmare. Her original thought was proven to be correct as she stared at the back of Kurt's head, seeing it clearly through the glass door. Carey got out of the car and ran up to the hotel but was quickly restrained a few officers who then put her back in the car. She sat there nervously, wondering what to do, wondering what would come out of all this.

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"Why are you doing this?" Zack grumbled, clutching his arm as it throbbed like an erratically beating heart.

"Oh it's far too complicated for you two to understand. There's a lot of history between your mom and I that you will not be able to comprehend. Just out of curiosity, did you know your mother cheated on me?" Kurt asked.

They were both way too distracted by what had been happening that morning to answer the question. "What do you want with us? Why'd you kill our friends? Why break into our school?" Cody cried, but received no remorse or regret from his father.

"I'm sure you boys will be just fine. This is all happening because of some bad choices your mom made. It's a shame the kids had to get brought into it. But I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles."

"We're here," Dave called back from the driver's seat.

Kurt crawled to the front of the truck and said, "Thanks for the ride, Dave!" and shot him in the back of the head. Zack and Cody stared, wishing this was all just a horrible, horrendous nightmare. Did their father _really _just kill a man?

"Shoot him up one more time," Kurt said to Tom, pointing at Zack, who was cringing and screaming from the extreme pain. "We need him conscious…I don't want him fainting during this. Give him some pain killers too. A lot of them."

"Anything you say…" he replied sarcastically, fed up with his orders.

"Alright, I am taking the boys with me. Jasper, you come with me. Tom, you stay here. Just be sure not to get caught," he said to him, winking and referring to their previous incident.

Kurt and Jasper drugged Zack and Cody out the back of the ambulance, looking to make sure all was clear. About 25 yards away from the ambulance, they heard Tom jump out of the ambulance, slam the door, and say, "Hold up! I wanna tag along." Kurt thought for a moment and agreed it would be fine.

The five males walked out of the building, about a block from the Tipton. As soon as they passed a group of pedestrians Zack and Cody reached out and started yelling. The ruckus did not last long, as Kurt promptly whipped a sharp knife out of his jacket and stuck it into ribs of Cody softly, of course very discretely, being sure not to alarm the passerbyers. "Oh stop it you guys! You're 14! The dentist shouldn't be _that _bad anymore!" Kurt said chuckling, just loud enough for the people on the streets to hear. "Don't try it you two," he leaned down and muttered when they were finally out of the limelight. "I'm telling you there is a good chance you'll get out of this alive. I'll kill you both right now if I have to; you will not even have a chance." Zack and Cody took the hint and continued down the street very nervously wondering what would happen next.

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Marion Moseby stepped back slowly, horrified at what he had just seen take place.

"All of you! To that corner!" Maddie yelled nervously. The group hurried over to side of the room across from the candy counter. They all packed in as tightly as possible. Moseby conveniently placed himself behind the front desk, eyeing the phone.

"Don't even try," Maddie called, watching all of them closely. "We took care of the phone lines."

"Maddie," Moseby said desperately, "what is happening here?"

"I think you'll find out soon enough."

Mr. Moseby just lowered his head, blaming this all on himself. "_I should've seen it in her,_" he told himself. Bringing his head up slowly to see if anything had progressed, he viewed a red package. The box was about as thick as a 500 page novel, a rectangular shape. It had a few red wires connected to it. Each of the six sides had big, bold black letters that read:

**EXPLOSIVE!**

"Oh, you found it?" Maddie asked. "There's also a pack in that flower pot over there, the one over there, behind the candy counter, in both elevator shafts, and on third floor in this building. That's another reason you shouldn't try anything; I hear gunfire does not go well with C4."

Moseby stared at all this in disbelief, having a fairly good guess at what would happen next.

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"Up there, walk up there." Kurt ordered as they made their final steps to the hotel. Inside the hotel, in the lobby, they heard a gunshot tainted by a gun silencer and people screaming. Shortly after the firing, Kurt walked through the door with Tom and Jasper, and Zack and Cody at his side.

Cody spotted the manager standing his tallest behind the front desk. "Mr. Moseby! Help!" he yelled.

Moseby looked up at Kurt and just shook his head. "Don't worry everyone," Mr. Moseby gulped unconfidently. "We'll be alright."

"Well, thanks for keeping everything on this end under control the second time around." Kurt said to Maddie, ignoring Moseby's proclamation as he motioned everyone he had come in with down to the main floor in the lobby.

"So do you have my ticket?" Maddie smiled.

"Well, not exactly…" Just then, they all heard a megaphone enhanced voice ordering the people responsible for this to come out with their hands up. He expected the police, but he did not expect them to come _this _soon. He grabbed his hostage that he decided he would hold at gunpoint: Zack.

The officers surrounded the entrances but moved into sight very, very slowly; Kurt was ready for them. Jasper looked to his left, where Tom was standing about thirty seconds ago. He had vanished. He spun around in a half circle, still not spotting him, but instead observing the cries and shrieks of the hostages for the first time.

From outside the door, Officer Linus yelled: "Put the boy down, lower your gun, and we can work this out."

Kurt laughed. "Fine, we can cut a deal. But I'm not putting either things down until you give me what I want."

"No, we cannot bring you anything or anyone. Just put the boy down and we can work this out. I have the power to cut a deal with you."

"Bring the mother! Carey! Bring her in here and this will all be over!" he demanded.

Officer Linus conversed with his partner until Carey intervened. "Carey! No! Dammit! I told you people to keep her down there!"

"Did you say boy! You said boy! Let me see them!" Carey screamed. She still was not close enough to see what was going on inside the lobby.

"MOM!!!" Cody yelled. "Help!!!"

"Shut him up! Jasper! Shut him up!" Kurt shouted.

"CODY?!" she shrieked with joy.

"You cannot be here Carey! Take her away!" Officer Linus ordered.

"No! Let him take me! I don't care what he does with me! Just make sure my boys are safe!" Instead of listening or waiting for them to make a decision, she pushed her way through. No one could stop her from getting to her boys.

Through all the chaos, as Carey ran into the lobby, a weak Zack tried to make a move on his father, who was gripping his healthy arm with a gun to his head. The attempt to punch him in the gut was unsuccessful. Kurt dodged the punch and just grabbed him by the head as he tried to make a run for it. Zack fidgeted until Kurt elbowed him in the stomach. He leaned over, gagging softly and grabbing his left arm as it continued to throb like an erratically beating heart. Kurt lifted him up and pushed the gun into him, letting the officers know firing would not be the best idea.

"Zack!" Carey, who was now just a matter of feet away from him and Kurt, exclaimed.

"Stay right there," Kurt ordered. He appeared to still have everything under control.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to our boys?" Carey cried as she popped the questions.

"OUR BOYS?"

Carey looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't have found out…

"They're not even mine! You've been lying to me for 14 years! You cheated on me! And you act like the whole relationship breakup was my fault! Why wouldn't you just tell me?"

Everyone in the room, a bloody Zack and a nervous Cody included, and also the officers outside were incredibly shocked.

"Do you remember when I came back two weeks ago? Do you have any idea WHY I came back?" Carey buried her head in her palms. "I was thinking about what happened to us. I mean the breakup. I thought and thought about it over and over again, but I just couldn't get past the burning question: How LONG had you been cheating on me? That was something in which you never gave me a definitive answer. So I came back, and we went to the doctors! We did all the tests! And let me tell you something––for some reason, I was not even surprised at the results."

Zack and Cody looked up at Carey. Kurt saw their reaction. "So I assume you haven't told them anything? None of this? You didn't tell them that you cheated on me? You didn't tell them that I'm not their father? Let me ask you something! Something I've been kept up at night with thinking about for the past two weeks! WHO IS THE FATHER?"

"ALRIGHT!" a voice from the crowd yelled. He stepped out, gun drawn at Kurt. "I'm SICK of this!"

"Tom?!" a baffled Kurt and a stunned Carey asked at the same time. Two police officers took this opportunity to move through the door. Officer Linus pointed his weapon at Kurt, while his partner aimed for the new gunman.

"No, no, no! Put the guns down! I'll kill all of them!" he informed the officers. They obeyed hesitantly.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, Tom? Kurt asked. "Put the gun down. Don't risk your life with me…I will stop you if I really have to."

"Oh shut up _Kurt_. I'm sick of you and your orders! You made me go to jail for TWO years! And then you have the audacity to ask me to help you out with something yet again? Did you think I would continue to be your little servant? You ruined my life! Now I'm getting my revenge!"

"What is he talking about?" Carey asked.

A stunning thought came to Kurt's mind. "Tom…Tom…are YOU the father?"

"Really? Does that matter anymore? She dropped me like a dog too!"

Kurt felt betrayed by both of his former friends. "You know what?" he announced. "I suggest ALL you put your guns down!" He angrily reached into his pocket, transferring Zack to his armed arm and putting him in a headlock. Carey cringed, tears pouring down her face.

He pulled out some kind of device with a big red button flat in the center. "Does anyone know what this is?" Mr. Moseby immediately identified the item and connected it with what he had seen earlier. "THIS is a remote activator that will trigger the 25 pounds of C4 that have been spread throughout this building! The bombs will go off when I press this button and let it go! DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS THEN?" he paused. "BOOM!!!!"

The cries came to a halt; everyone inside just gasped. Chaos set in after they had a moment to realize each and every single one of their lives was in grave danger. They all started screaming until Kurt yelled: "ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP!" The crowd settled down a bit, although still aware their lives could end with just the push and release of a button. "I wouldn't want to have to use this gun in here..."

Hearing all the dialogue that had taken place in the lobby, he remaining officers outside immediately got on their radios, called the bomb squad, and then fled the scene, leaving it up to the two inside.

"You're bluffing," Carey protested disgustedly.

"Are you sure about that?" he pressed down the button. "Remember…all I have to do is let it go now…"

"You wouldn't kill yourself like this. I know you at least THAT much. You would never kill innocent people."

"Oh please Carey. Don't be ignorant. This is a suicide mission and I knew it when I got up this morning. I don't care about anyone else in here! Tom, I ruined your life? Do you have any idea how much damage you inflicted on MY life???" He paused. "After all you've done to me…" he turned to Tom, "and what my supposed old friend did to me 14 years ago…I want you BOTH dead, and I will go to extremes to get it done!"

"Mr. Martin, please stop this madness. I told you that we can cut a deal! Just give us that remote trigger of yours and we can work something out." Officer Linus tried to reason. Kurt had heard enough of him. He moved the gun away from Zack's temple and shot the officer in the head. More gasps came from the frightened spectators. Kurt pulled the boy back into his arms to prevent the remaining officer from killing him.

Kurt was now fuming. Completely unexpectedly, the man pulled the gun away again from Zack's sweaty face, threw him to the ground, and pointed it at Carey. He pulled the trigger. Carey shot back and dropped to the ground roughly. Having a fairly clear shot now since the boy was no longer obstructing the target, Officer Linus' partner open fired on Kurt. A loud boom sent Kurt to the ground while the activator dropped next to him.

Hell broke loose when the transmitter started to beep. Some shuffled to the door, others who realized when the beeps got faster that they would not be able to make it out just took cover. The beeping sped up…faster…faster…faster…then a moment of silence––then––nothing.

Confusion spread through the room when they found the bomb had not been activated. People waited a few seconds after the beeping stopped to receive a rather indecisive confirmation that they would, in fact, survive this. Zack and Cody made the first move. They ran towards their dying mother, followed my Mr. Moseby, who had been hiding in the corner listening to the harsh dialogue in the last few minutes.

The crowd ran out of the building, which signaled the officers stationed outside that it was safe to proceed in with caution.

"Where did they go?" an officer yelled. Moseby looked around. He didn't see anything; Tom, Jasper, and Maddie had fled the scene. "I want you to find them!" a cop ordered to his team. The officer went over to the flower pot and spotted the package that had "**EXPLOSIVE" **printed on all sides. He took only one five second stare to realize it was only paper; there was nothing inside. There was no bomb; there was never a bomb.

"MOM!" both boys cried with emotion.

"Boys…boys…" she said softly. She shut her eyes, struggling to release her final words: "Marion…Marion…take care of them…"

Moseby nodded, obeying her request. Zack and Cody rested their heads on their lifeless mother, weeping more than they ever had in their entire lives and thinking about everything that would change as a result of this incredibly revealing and devastating day.

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**I'll post the completely different alternate ending soon.**

**Review please!**


	9. Alternate Ending

**Throughout every single chapter I wrote in this story, I planned on killing most (if not all) of the characters by the end. That was one of the reasons I killed Bob at the beginning…I wanted to make an attempt at letting people know I would not hesitate to just kill everyone off. But then I watched a certain recent movie where almost everyone ended up dying. It was not a satisfying ending at all, basically ruined the movie for me and I didn't want that to happen to this (just yet). That was the first time I had second thoughts about my ending. **

**I literally had everything written, edited, and ready to post before I finally made the decision to change it around. The following is how the chapter would have started off:**

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Delirious and in a total daze, trying to recall and understand the crazy turn of events that had just taken place, Zack opened his right eye. He tried to open his left, but it wouldn't budge; almost like it was nailed shut. He then absorbed a sharp pain, which echoed inside of the boy's head as he tried to pry the obviously damaged left eye open.

Zack observed thick, dark, black smoke that somberly rose slowly to the ceiling in this very confined area surrounded by objects such as floorboards, large pieces of medal, and garbage through his one eye. Attempting to lift his throbbing head up steadily, he spotted a luggage cart with the Tipton logo lying on its side, parallel to his left leg. Still confused, the twin got to his knees and viewed the disastrous mess that previously served as a lobby for one of the finest and most luxurious hotels in the world. Zack's felt as if his head was twirling around and around in a full 360º angle as he stared around the room. Suddenly, he noticed something on the ground. It was a black shoe with a dark blue Nike logo embedded on its inside. A bold memory from just a few minutes ago arrived abruptly in his brain. "MOM!!!!!!!!! CODY!!!!!!!!!" he screamed weakly, although as loud as he possibly could. Stumbling to his feet with all his might and dueling with another horrid pain that made his arm feel like it was going to fall off, he saw a pair of legs sticking from under a large piece of wood just a few feet away from him. Zack approached the piece of wood, lifted it up swiftly, and stared at his deceased mother. She was not a pretty sight, clearly roughed up by what had just happened in this hotel. Carey's face was terribly discombobulated, blood everywhere. Stunned and almost broken down by this sight, he took a few steps back in disbelief before tripping over something on the ground. The 14 year old boy fell violently. He slowly rose up halfway, curious to see what he had tripped over. Through the gallons of hot tears that flooded his eyes and what was left of this Tipton lobby, Zack vaguely observed a blond head of hair that lied on the ground near his own original resting place. He approached the figure, desperately hoping it was not who it first appeared to be. The closer he got to the now apparent person on the ground, the more evident the identity of the blond on the ground became. Zack took one big dive towards Cody when he realized his twin was lying injured on the ground. He put his middle and pointer fingers on Cody's forearm, just above the hand. Nothing. He put his hand on his brother's chest, checking and hoping more than ever for a beat. Nothing. A pathetic attempt at CPR didn't help anything either. Zack's brother was dead. And so was his mother. After all this, after this day, this nightmare, this is how all it ends. He stared blankly at Cody's cold face, which was not nearly as bloodied and destructed as his mother's. He did not know what to do. Breathing heavily and feeling totally lifeless, his world began to spin again. He dropped his head once again on his brother, sobbing more than he ever had in his entire life, not knowing what would happen next.

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**In case you haven't noticed, I like to drop bombshells early and not have the reader know what's going on immediately. That was one of the aspects of the final chapter I lost by changing the ending.**

**From there, it continued on as normal…until the last scene where a few things at the end had to be altered:**

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"Up there, walk up there." Kurt ordered as they made their final steps to the hotel. Inside the hotel, in the lobby, they heard a gunshot tainted by a gun silencer and people screaming. Shortly after the firing, Kurt walked through the door with Tom and Jasper, and Zack and Cody at his side.

Cody spotted the manager standing his tallest behind the front desk. "Mr. Moseby! Help!" he yelled.

Moseby looked up at Kurt and just shook his head. "Don't worry everyone," Mr. Moseby gulped unconfidently. "We'll be alright."

"Well, thanks for keeping everything on this end under control the second time around." Kurt said to Maddie, ignoring Moseby's proclamation as he motioned everyone he had come in with down to the main floor in the lobby.

"So do you have my ticket?" Maddie smiled.

"Well, not exactly…" Just then, they all heard a megaphone voice ordering the people responsible for this to come out with their hands up. He expected the police, but he did not expect them to come _this _soon. He grabbed his hostage that he decided he would hold at gunpoint: Zack.

The officers surrounded the entrances but moved into sight very, very slowly; Kurt was ready for them. Jasper looked to his left, where Tom was standing about thirty seconds ago. He had vanished. He spun around in a half circle, still not spotting him, but instead observing the cries and shrieks of the hostages for the first time.

From outside the door, Officer Linus yelled: "Put the boy down, lower your gun, and we can work this out."

Kurt laughed. "Fine, we can cut a deal. But I'm not putting either things down until you give me what I want."

"No, we cannot bring you anything or anyone. Just put the boy down and we can work this out. I have the power to cut a deal with you."

"Bring the mother! Carey! Bring her in here and this will all be over!" he demanded.

Officer Linus conversed with his partner until Carey intervened. "Carey! No! Dammit! I told you people to keep her down there!"

"Did you say boy! You said boy! Let me see them!" Carey screamed. She still was not close enough to see what was going on inside the lobby.

"MOM!!!" Cody yelled. "Help!!!"

"Shut him up! Jasper! Shut him up!" Kurt shouted.

"CODY?!" she shrieked with joy.

"You cannot be here Carey! Take her away!" Officer Linus ordered.

"No! Let him take me! I don't care what he does with me! Just make sure my boys are safe!" Instead of listening or waiting for them to make a decision, she pushed her way through. No one could stop her from getting to her boys.

Through all the chaos, as Carey ran into the lobby, a weak Zack tried to make a move on his father, who was gripping his healthy arm with a gun to his head. The attempt to punch him in the gut was unsuccessful. Kurt dodged him and just grabbed him by the head as he tried to make a run for it, accidentally inserting his thumb into the boy's left eye. Zack shrieked with even more pain, as his eye had started to bleed.

"Zack!" Carey exclaimed, who was now just a matter of feet away from him and Kurt.

"Stay right there," Kurt ordered. He appeared to still have everything under control.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to our boys?" Carey cried as she popped the questions.

"OUR BOYS?"

Carey looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't have found out…

"They're not even mine! You've been lying to me for 14 years! You cheated on me! And you act like the whole relationship breakup was my fault! Why wouldn't you just tell me?"

Everyone in the room, a bloody Zack and a nervous Cody included, and also the officers outside were incredibly shocked.

"Do you remember when I came back two weeks ago? Do you have any idea WHY I came back?" Carey buried her head in her palms. "I was thinking about what happened to us. I mean the breakup. I thought and thought about it over and over again, but I just couldn't get past the burning question: How LONG had you been cheating on me? That was something in which you never gave me a definitive answer. So I came back, and we went to the doctors! We did all the tests! And let me tell you something––for some reason, I was not even surprised at the results."

Zack and Cody looked up at Carey. Kurt saw their reaction. "So I assume you haven't told them anything? None of this? You didn't tell them that you cheated on me? You didn't tell them that I'm not their father? Let me ask you something! Something I've been kept up at night with thinking about for the past two weeks! WHO IS THE FATHER?"

"ALRIGHT!" a voice from the crowd yelled. He stepped out, gun drawn at Kurt. "I'm sick of this!"

"Tom?!" a baffled Kurt and a stunned Carey asked at the same time. Four police officers took this opportunity to move through the door. Three of their weapons pointed at Kurt, Officer Linus' pointed at the new gunman.

"No, no, no! Put the guns down! I'll kill all of them!" he informed the officers. They obeyed.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, Tom? Kurt asked. "Put the gun down. Don't risk your life with me…I will stop you if I really have to."

"Oh shut up _Kurt_. I'm sick of you and your orders! You made me go to jail for TWO years! And then you have the audacity to ask me to help you out with something yet again? Did you think I would continue to be your little servant? You ruined my life! Now I'm getting my revenge!"

"What is he talking about?" Carey asked.

A stunning thought came to Kurt's mind. "Tom…Tom…are YOU the father?"

"Really? Does that matter anymore? She dropped me like a dog too!"

Kurt felt betrayed by both of his former friends. "You know what?" he announced. "I suggest ALL you put your guns down!" He angrily reached into his pocket, transferring Zack to his armed arm and putting him in a headlock. Carey cringed, tears pouring down her face.

He pulled out some kind of device with a big red button flat in the center. "Does anyone know what this is?" Mr. Moseby immediately identified the item and connected it with what he had seen earlier. "THIS is a remote activator that will trigger the 25 pounds of C4 that have been spread all though this building! The bombs will go off when I press this button and let it go! DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS THEN?" he paused. "BOOM!!!!"

The cries came to a halt. Everyone inside just gasped. Chaos set in after they had a moment to realize each and every single one of their lives was in grave danger. They all started screaming until Kurt yelled: "ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP!" The crowd settled down a bit, although still aware their lives could end with just the push and release of a button. "I wouldn't want to have to use this gun in here..."

Hearing all the dialogue that had taken place in the lobby, he remaining officers outside immediately got on their radios and called for the bomb squad.

"You're bluffing," Carey protested disgustedly.

"Are you sure about that?" he pressed down the button. "Remember…all I have to do is let it go now…"

"You wouldn't kill yourself like this. I know you at least THAT much. You would never kill innocent people."

"Oh please Carey. Don't be ignorant. This is a suicide mission and I knew it when I got up this morning. I don't care about anyone else in here! Tom, I ruined your life? Do you have any idea how much damage you inflicted on MY life???" He paused. "After all you've done to me…" he turned to Tom, "and what my supposed old friend did to me 14 years ago…I want you BOTH dead, and I will go to extremes to get it done!"

"Mr. Martin, please stop this madness. I told you that we can cut a deal! Just give us that remote trigger of yours and we can work something out." Officer Linus tried to reason. Kurt had heard enough of him. He moved the gun away from Zack's head and shot the officer in the head. More gasps came from the freighted spectators.

Moments went by without a speaker until Tom decided to take matters into his own hands.

"And I want you dead…" He pulled the trigger and let a bullet fly right, square in the side of the neck of Kurt.

Hell broke loose when the transmitter started to beep. Everyone shuffled towards the door, few made it out. It was too late for most, including the Martin family. As the beeps got faster and faster, Cody sprinted towards his mother and brother while Carey jumped on top of them in an effort to save their lives.

A moment of silence––then––_**BOOM!!!**_

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**Then, a replay of the beginning…**

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Delirious and in a total daze, trying to recall and understand the crazy turn of events that had just taken place, Zack opened his right eye. He tried to open his left, but it wouldn't budge; almost like it was nailed shut. He then absorbed a sharp pain, which echoed inside of the boy's head as he tried to pry the obviously damaged left eye open.

Zack observed thick, dark, black smoke that somberly rose slowly to the ceiling in this very confined area surrounded by objects such as floorboards, large pieces of medal, and garbage through his one eye. Attempting to lift his throbbing head up steadily, he spotted a luggage cart with the Tipton logo lying on its side, parallel to his left leg. Still confused, the twin got to his knees and viewed the disastrous mess that previously served as a lobby for one of the finest and most luxurious hotels in the world. Zack's felt as if his head was twirling around and around in a full 360º angle as he stared around the room. Suddenly, he noticed something on the ground. It was a black shoe with a dark blue Nike logo embedded on its inside. A bold memory from just a few minutes ago arrived abruptly in his brain. "MOM!!!!!!!!! CODY!!!!!!!!!" he screamed weakly, although as loud as he possibly could. Stumbling to his feet with all his might and dueling with another horrid pain that made his arm feel like it was going to fall off, he saw a pair of legs sticking from under a large piece of wood just a few feet away from him. Zack approached the piece of wood, lifted it up swiftly, and stared at his deceased mother. She was not a pretty sight, clearly roughed up by what had just happened in this hotel. Carey's face was terribly discombobulated, blood everywhere. Stunned and almost broken down by this sight, he took a few steps back in disbelief before tripping over something on the ground. The 14 year old boy fell violently. He slowly rose up halfway, curious to see what he had tripped over. Through the gallons of hot tears that flooded his eyes and what was left of this Tipton lobby, Zack vaguely observed a blond head of hair that lied on the ground near his own original resting place. He approached the figure, desperately hoping it was not who it first appeared to be. The closer he got to the now apparent person on the ground, the more evident the identity of the blond on the ground became. Zack took one big dive towards Cody when he realized his twin was lying injured on the ground. He put his middle and pointer fingers on Cody's forearm, just above the hand. Nothing. He put his hand on his brother's chest, checking and hoping more than ever for a beat. Nothing. A pathetic attempt at CPR didn't help anything either. Zack's brother was dead. And so was his mother. After all this, after this day, this nightmare, this is how all it ends. He stared blankly at Cody's cold face, which was not nearly as bloodied and destructed as his mother's. He did not know what to do. Breathing heavily and feeling totally lifeless, his world began to spin again. He dropped his head once again on his brother, sobbing more than he ever had in his entire life, not knowing what would happen next.

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**I ultimately decided to change it for three main reasons:**

**I do not think everyone dying is a very fulfilling ending.**

**There was not enough insight given to the fate of other main characters (Moseby, Maddie, etc.).**

**I would have needed to provide a plausible explanation for how only Zack survived the explosion…something that I didn't have.**

**I would not be able to write a sequel if all the main characters died.**

**So that now brings us to the sequel decision. This story was not popular, to say the least. With Moseby taking over the kids because of the mother's death and most of the villains getting away, there are so many different paths I could take with the sequel.**

**Thoughts? What do you guys think? Should I start over with a completely new plot, hopefully pick up new readers (something that I really want and I will probably not do much of in a continuation of this plot), or should I go for the sequel?**


End file.
